Epperson v. Southbank

• Decision Date: 09 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 2010–CT–00056–SCT.,2010–CT–00056–SCT.
• Parties: Carolyn EPPERSON v. SOUTHBANK.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

93 So.3d 10

Carolyn EPPERSON

v.SOUTHBANK.

No. 2010–CT–00056–SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 24, 2012.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 9, 2012.

B. Sean Akins, Ripley, attorney for appellant.

Luther T. Munford, Jackson, William M. Beasley, Sr., William M. Beasley, Jr., Tupelo, attorneys for appellee.

EN BANC.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

CARLSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Carolyn Epperson filed a complaint against SOUTHBank in the Circuit Court of Alcorn County alleging that the bank had breached its contract with her by failing to give her the funds from certain certificates of deposit upon her request. The bank had denied Epperson's request because she did not present the original certificates. The trial court granted summary judgment for SOUTHBank, finding that contractual language required presentation of the original certificates for withdrawal. Epperson appealed the trial court's judgment, and we assigned the case to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment and rendered judgment in favor of Epperson. SOUTHBank filed a petition for writ of certiorari, which we granted.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶ 2. This case involves the withdrawal of funds from certain certificates of deposit (CDs) funded by C.K. and Juanita Rickman for their children, Carolyn Epperson and Randy Thompson. Epperson was C.K.'s daughter from a previous marriage, and Thompson was Juanita's son from a previous marriage. C.K. and Juanita married and raised Epperson and Thompson as siblings. Epperson referred to Juanita as her mother.

¶ 3. The CDs at issue were opened in 1993 at SOUTHBank in Corinth. The CDs were purchased in the following amounts and held in the following names:

Account No. 9019789—Issued March 11, 1993, in the name of “C.K. Rickman or Juanita Rickman Trustee for Carolyn Rickman Epperson” with an opening balance of $59,716.02.

Account No. 9019797—Issued March 11, 1993, in the name of “C.K. Rickman or Juanita Rickman Trustee for Randy Thompson” with an opening balance of $59,716.02.

Account No. 9019810—Issued March 15, 1993, in the name of “C.K. Rickman or Juanita Rickman Trustees for Carolyn Epperson and Randy Thompson” with an opening balance of $30,748.07.

Account No. 9021984—Issued in the name of “C.K. Rickman or Juanita Rickman POD to Carolyn Epperson and Randy Thompson” with an opening balance of $12,356.35. (The issue date cannot be determined from the record.)

¶ 4. Each CD was signed by C.K. Rickman and Juanita Rickman only. The documents signed by the Rickmans had the following heading on the front: “THIS SIGNATURE CARD GOES WITH YOUR TIME CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT NO. ____. YOU MAY REFER TO YOUR CERTIFICATE FOR OTHER DETAILS.” A provision on the back of the signature card required the CD to be endorsed and presented to the bank to make a withdrawal prior to maturity.

¶ 5. C.K. died in December 1999. In January 2000, the beneficiaries of the CDs retitled the first three CDs in the name of “Juanita Rickman or Carolyn Epperson or Randy Thompson.” The fourth CD was retitled “Juanita Rickman POD to Carolyn Epperson and Randy Thompson.” ¹ According to Epperson, Juanita called in January 2000 and asked Epperson to come to her house and sign a signature card. Juanita told Epperson this was being done to put Epperson's name on the CDs. Epperson had not seen the CDs, so she did not know whose names were on them at that time. Epperson claims that they did not discuss how the CDs would be arranged or how much money was involved, but that Juanita simply gave her a blank index card to sign. Thompson was there also; Thompson and Juanita had already signed the card. Apparently, Juanita, Epperson, and Thompson actually signed a Consumer Account Agreement pertaining to each CD.²

¶ 6. By that time, SOUTHBank was using a different form for its signature card. The document was titled “Consumer Account Agreement,” and there was a space on the form to designate the type of account, be it a savings, checking, money market, or time deposit account. SOUTHBank used the same document for all accounts. There was no longer a separate form for CDs, as there had been when the accounts were opened in 1993. The language on the back of the new signature card no longer referred to the requirement of presenting the CD for early withdrawal. The relevant language pertaining to withdrawal was as follows:

WITHDRAWALS—Unless otherwise clearly indicated on page 1, any one of you who signs this form including authorized signers, may withdraw or transfer all or any part of the account balance at any time on forms approved by us.... We reserve the right to refuse any withdrawal or transfer request which is attempted by any method not specifically permitted....Withdrawals from a time deposit prior to maturity or prior to the expiration of any notice period may be restricted and may be subject to penalty....

¶ 7. At some point after C.K.'s death, a family dispute arose among Epperson and her mother and stepbrother. In 2004 or 2005, Thompson sold Juanita's house. Juanita went to live with Thompson and his wife, Doris. At that time, Epperson was called to get some of her father's personal items out of Juanita's house. Among the items was a garbage bag containing personal papers that had been shredded. Epperson went through the bag and found interest statements that had been sent to “C.K. Rickman and Juanita Rickman, trustees for Carolyn Rickman Epperson.” She literally pieced together the statements and discovered how the CDs had been held.

¶ 8. On February 15, 2005, Epperson went to SOUTHBank and asked for copies of the CDs. She spoke with Margie Franks, Senior Vice President of the Savings Department, who gave her a printout of the CDs that were in Epperson's name and the amount of each. Franks noted on the printout that one CD would mature in September 2005 and the remaining three CDs would mature in January 2007. Epperson returned to the bank on October 21, 2005, and spoke with Franks again. Franks gave her another printout listing the CDs, but one CD showed a balance of $0.³ Franks told Epperson that the CD had been withdrawn on March 8, 2005. Epperson then asked if she could “get [her] part of the money.” Franks told Epperson that she could withdraw the money only if she presented the CDs. Franks testified in her deposition that the bank required a party to present the original CD in order to withdraw funds. Franks said she did not know if that policy was in writing, but it had been the bank's requirement for the forty-six years she had worked at SOUTHBank.

¶ 9. On February 17, 2006, Juanita, Randy, and Doris went to SOUTHBank, closed the three remaining CDs (prior to the maturity date), and consolidated them into one new CD. Franks testified that Juanita signed a withdrawal slip and presented the original CDs, as required, to cash in the three CDs. The amount of the new CD was $234,164.05, and it was in the name of “Juanita Rickman or Randy Thompson or Doris Thompson.” Epperson called Franks sometime later and was told that her name had been removed from all of the CDs.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 10. On October 16, 2008, Epperson filed a complaint against SOUTHBank in the Circuit Court of Alcorn County. Epperson alleged that SOUTHBank had breached its contract with her by failing to give her the funds from the CDs when she asked for them on October 21, 2005. She alleged the bank had a duty to provide her access to the funds and that the bank had breached its duty, resulting in her total loss of the funds.⁴ She sought the full amount of the consolidated CD ($234,164.05) plus interest, punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

¶ 11. SOUTHBank filed a motion for summary judgment and argued that the “Account Agreements executed in connection with the Certificates of Deposit require that the Certificates themselves be presented to bank representatives before the monies can be withdrawn.” Therefore, according to SOUTHBank, because Epperson admittedly never was in possession of the CDs, she did not have authority to withdraw the funds, and her claims were without merit.

¶ 12. Epperson responded and filed a cross-motion for summary judgment. Epperson claimed that SOUTHBank was referencing the 1993 CDs, which included language requiring the CDs to be presented, but that the agreement signed by Epperson in 2000 did not include that language. After a hearing on the motions, the trial court granted SOUTHBank's motion for summary judgment and denied Epperson's cross-motion for summary judgment, finding that, based on the language in the agreement, Epperson was required to present the original certificates for withdrawal. The trial court focused on the “forms approved by us” language in the agreement and held that the agreement required the “presentation” of forms approved by the bank, which it interpreted to be the original CDs.

¶ 13. Epperson appealed the trial court's decision. The Court of Appeals reversed and rendered, finding that the agreement did not require presentation of the original CDs. The Court of Appeals awarded Epperson the value of the CDs on October 21, 2005, the date she tried to withdraw the funds, plus interest accrued since that date. Epperson v. SOUTHBank, 93 So.3d 26 (Miss.Ct.App.2011), reh'g denied (Nov. 1, 2011). SOUTHBank filed a petition for writ of certiorari, and the Mississippi Bankers Association filed an amicus brief in support of SOUTHBank. This Court granted the petition. Epperson v. SOUTHBank, 80 So.3d 111 (Table) (Miss.2012).

DISCUSSION

¶ 14. In its petition for writ of certiorari, SOUTHBank contends that it reserved its right to restrict early withdrawal of a CD through the “may be restricted” language in the agreement, and that SOUTHBank's restriction was to require presentation of the original CD. The issue presented by SOUTHBank is whether languagein a bank customer agreement, which says early withdrawal “may be restricted,” can be enforced only if the restrictions in question are more...